Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites are satellites that orbit approximately 160-2000 km above the surface of the earth. For a variety of reasons it is useful to know an accurate orbit and/or position of a LEO satellite. However, within the altitude range of a typical orbit, a LEO satellite will often experience atmospheric drag and other forces which can make station keeping and accurate prediction of the orbit and/or position of the LEO satellite difficult.
Using typical methods for orbit and/or position determination/estimation, orbits of LEO satellites at any given time are generally known or knowable to within approximately 20 meters of their actual positions. This is useful information, however for many applications, more accurate information is needed. One mechanism which may be used to improve the knowledge of the actual position and/or orbit of a LEO satellite is the inclusion of a GNSS receiver on the LEO satellite. Using the positioning capabilities of the GNSS receiver, it may be possible to ascertain a position to within approximately 5-15 meters of the actual position of the LEO satellite. However, for many applications this improvement still does not provide sufficiently accurate LEO satellite position and/or orbit information.